Mockingbirds in Jena, Louisiana
It all started last fall when some of the Black students in tiny Jena, Louisiana sat under a tree on the high school campus nicknamed the "White Tree" for generations. It was understood that only the white students were to congregate under the tree.
The ridiculous tradition should clearly have been broken several decades ago, ideally while Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was still alive to see it happen. To imagine this kind of racism existing anywhere in twenty-first century America is difficult for this blogger to wrap her head around.
Rather than being met with a collective sigh of relief that the the town had finally joined the rest of us in realizing that the only "race" is the human race, the unthinkable has happened in Jena.
The next morning, when students arrived for school, three nooses hung from the tree.
Unforgivable and not just a prank, despite the superintendent writing it off as such. Harassment and intimidation are sill illegal, and certainly has no place in a school where students should be safe and unafraid.
Instead, the local District Attorney visited the school with police to break up the protests over the nooses being ignored by school administration. He said to them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen," effectively violating these student's right to protest.
Not surprising, subsequently there was increased racial tension at the school. Several violent incidents saw white students beating up black students.
It was not until a fight on December 4, 2006 where a white student was beaten up, treated at a local hospital for injuries, and released the same day, that the District Attorney again takes action. He charges six black students with second degree attempted murder. These young men face 100 years in prison for a school fight.
I'll allow ColorofChange.org to fill in the rest of the details. They are hosting an online petition to go to the Governor of Louisiana and District Attorney Reed Walters asking that this injustice be corrected. I have also checked my details for this article with this piece by syndicated columnist Amy Goodman.
I heard about this case one morning last week in morning Fox News. It happened to be the morning after I finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird. The classic novel takes place in tiny Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. The book is about all the various bigotries that exist in small town life, as well as the loss of innocents tale of a bright little girl called Scout. From the eyes of the young daughter of defense attorney Atticus Finch, we view the trial of a black man for the rape and beating of a young white woman. The facts of the case prove that Tom Robinson is innocent, but he is convicted anyway by an all white (all male, too) jury. Even though I'd seen the movie version years ago, and knew what to expect, the book had me in tears.
After all the 1930s were not all that long ago in the grand scheme of history. The fictional tale of the book is a reflection of what really happened all over our nation. Again, easy for this open-minded Northern girl to lose sight of in day to day life.
It was surreal to to sit in my living room in 2007, hearing a report about trumped up charges propagated on the basis of color, on the very next day. It is unacceptable that we as a nation allow such injustice to be committed by those we trust with the power of justice system.
In the novel, the Mockingbird is a symbol of innocents. These young man are modern, real life examples of Mockingbirds.
Luckily for the "Jena Six," it's not the dark ages in this nation anymore. With the power of the information age, we citizens can not be kept ignorant or silent. Please, use your voice and your blog to spread the word, so these promising young men do not have their futures ruined by one community's racism.
Many thanks to my fellow bloggers, Marisa and Suni for organizing the blogging world's collective outcry. If you are the owner of a blog, and would like to join, please visit Marisa's post for details.
The ridiculous tradition should clearly have been broken several decades ago, ideally while Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was still alive to see it happen. To imagine this kind of racism existing anywhere in twenty-first century America is difficult for this blogger to wrap her head around.
Rather than being met with a collective sigh of relief that the the town had finally joined the rest of us in realizing that the only "race" is the human race, the unthinkable has happened in Jena.
The next morning, when students arrived for school, three nooses hung from the tree.
Unforgivable and not just a prank, despite the superintendent writing it off as such. Harassment and intimidation are sill illegal, and certainly has no place in a school where students should be safe and unafraid.
Instead, the local District Attorney visited the school with police to break up the protests over the nooses being ignored by school administration. He said to them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen," effectively violating these student's right to protest.
Not surprising, subsequently there was increased racial tension at the school. Several violent incidents saw white students beating up black students.
It was not until a fight on December 4, 2006 where a white student was beaten up, treated at a local hospital for injuries, and released the same day, that the District Attorney again takes action. He charges six black students with second degree attempted murder. These young men face 100 years in prison for a school fight.
I'll allow ColorofChange.org to fill in the rest of the details. They are hosting an online petition to go to the Governor of Louisiana and District Attorney Reed Walters asking that this injustice be corrected. I have also checked my details for this article with this piece by syndicated columnist Amy Goodman.
I heard about this case one morning last week in morning Fox News. It happened to be the morning after I finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird. The classic novel takes place in tiny Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. The book is about all the various bigotries that exist in small town life, as well as the loss of innocents tale of a bright little girl called Scout. From the eyes of the young daughter of defense attorney Atticus Finch, we view the trial of a black man for the rape and beating of a young white woman. The facts of the case prove that Tom Robinson is innocent, but he is convicted anyway by an all white (all male, too) jury. Even though I'd seen the movie version years ago, and knew what to expect, the book had me in tears.
After all the 1930s were not all that long ago in the grand scheme of history. The fictional tale of the book is a reflection of what really happened all over our nation. Again, easy for this open-minded Northern girl to lose sight of in day to day life.
It was surreal to to sit in my living room in 2007, hearing a report about trumped up charges propagated on the basis of color, on the very next day. It is unacceptable that we as a nation allow such injustice to be committed by those we trust with the power of justice system.
In the novel, the Mockingbird is a symbol of innocents. These young man are modern, real life examples of Mockingbirds.
Luckily for the "Jena Six," it's not the dark ages in this nation anymore. With the power of the information age, we citizens can not be kept ignorant or silent. Please, use your voice and your blog to spread the word, so these promising young men do not have their futures ruined by one community's racism.
Many thanks to my fellow bloggers, Marisa and Suni for organizing the blogging world's collective outcry. If you are the owner of a blog, and would like to join, please visit Marisa's post for details.
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